Saturday, December 3, 2011

Putrajaya must push reforms to fight graft, admits Pemandu

By Debra Chong

December 03, 2011Malaysian Insider

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 3 — The government’s efficiency unit admitted today that Putrajaya needed to implement institutional and structural reforms if it was to effectively fight grand corruption and improve the country’s overall performance, which fell in a global index this year.

“We realise, however, a lot more focus is needed on the initiatives to combat grand corruption,” the government’s Performance and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) said in a statement today. “If anything, the CPI (Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index) has clearly shown that we need to address Grand Corruption as it impedes our overall CPI scoring.

“This issue requires institutional and structural reforms. The Government recognises this,” it added.

Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) government had come under fire from the opposition DAP yesterday for its sliding score, which had dropped for the third year.

DAP’s secretary-general Lim Guan Eng observed that it was Malaysia’s worst score in 10 years.

Pemandu had yesterday responded by blaming the country’s dipping score in Transparency International’s CPI 2011 on a new measure introduced.

Today it said it was studying the CPI report and was working with various agencies, including Transparency International, to enable greater institutional and structural changes in the war against grand corruption.

It said the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), led by Datuk Seri Abu Kassim, had put in place a transformation programme that, among other things, aimed to strengthen their forensic investigative capabilities.

“We plan to also put more effort on delivering initiatives such as introducing a transparent consultation process for new laws as well as political financing,” Pemandu said.

It pointed out TI’s Bribe Payer Index (BPI) was focused on the giver, instead of the receiver, in its surveys and said they needed to build greater integrity.

“The scoring of the BPI is a clear indication that only when the giving stops, the taking stops. This is the systemic issue which requires all Malaysians to play a part in addressing,” Pemandu said, adding that the government would seek to push further the Corporate Integrity Pledge next year.

Malaysia slipped to 4.3 this year from 4.4 in 2010 and also saw its country ranking falling to 60 out of 183 countries from 56 out of 178 last year.

It came out behind Singapore and Brunei in the Southeast Asian region.

Malaysia was 37th at the time Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was prime minister in 2003.